Cambridge IGCSE English

Story·Phoebe Donovan — A man traveling with his critical mother to his grandfather's funeral confronts their conflicting views on success and happiness when a flight delay forces them to share a hotel room.

Story·Avital Sagan, age 12 — A sentient radio watches helplessly as carnivorous moonflowers take over the island city of Floracion, turning its inhabitants into mindless carriers of the infection.

Poetry·Amber Zhao, age 10 — A meditation on Antarctic exploration becomes a reflection on distance between friends, memory's persistence, and how shared experiences diverge in recollection.

Story·Claire Rinterknecht, age 13 — A travel writer who stopped traveling after his wife's death in a climbing accident has been faking his columns for years, until his niece discovers his secret.

Story·Katie Russell — A girl recalls her baseball-playing brother who returns from WWII as a ghost of himself, until their shared baseball finally breaks his silence.

Story·Teresa Cotsirilos, age 13 — A girl recalls her baseball-obsessed childhood with her older brother Sammy, who returns from WWII as a ghost of himself, until their shared baseball finally breaks his silence.

Story·Will Stroud, age 13 — A wolf named Buck leads his pack in a three-day hunt through the Alaskan wilderness, finally cornering and killing a formidable old moose.

Story·Kyle Eichner, age 13 — A young wife in 1896 South Carolina cares for her husband dying of consumption, their memories of courtship interweaving with his final days and the birth of their daughter.

Story·Marian Homans-Turnbull, age 13 — A girl's last morning on a Nova Scotia island turns into a fog-bound adventure when their boat gets lost, leading to an unexpected sail on a schooner.

Story·Zaki Moustafa, age 13 — A fourteen-year-old Confederate soldier marches through dawn fog to ambush a Union camp, then confronts the horror of killing boys his own age.